Under current Internet protocol (IP) telephony network environments, service providers offer Caller ID and Caller Name services. With these services, a called party is notified of the telephone number or uniform resource locator (URL) of the calling party and the name/user name of the calling party. Such information is stored in a central database owned and maintained by a telephone company. The Caller ID and Caller Name information is sent to the called party prior to the called party answering the call.
The main purpose of this information is to allow the called party to screen the incoming call and decide if the called party wants to answer the call, terminate the call, or send the call to a voice mail system. The called party must subscribe to the service and have special equipment on the premise to receive and display such information. Although these services are popular, they have many limitations and drawbacks.
For example, the amount of information about the caller is limited to the name/user name and calling number/URL. The service only identifies the caller's name if the call originates from a residence or single line business. If the call originates from a PBX or a Centrex group, the only information provided to the called party is the name of the company providing the PBX or Centrex service.
An additional drawback is that the telephone company maintains subscriber data such that a caller who is a subscriber cannot update or edit the information, and/or may not want their name and number displayed to everyone they call. Further, in instances where a caller is traveling and using a different line, the Caller ID and Caller Name that is displayed identifies the premises, (or name/user name of the owner of the line) but not the actual caller. Other limitations include delivery of the same information every call even though the caller may be calling for various business, social or personal reasons; the service is fixed to letters and numerical characters; and there is a lack of flexibility to address visual presence capabilities.